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This week brought an upward change the Gold price hasn’t seen in weeks. Gold & Silver experienced a dip Monday morning, but quickly recovered as technical trading gained positive momentum. “As the market started to come up, it was hitting [short-seller] stops and then that old huge level of support [for Silver], that low [traders] would put all their buy stops there. Once [prices] hit that, that’s when it did that parabolic move up,” RJO Futures senior commodities broker Phil Streible said. “All those shorts that got in this morning, they’re all covering, and all the longs that got blown out get back in on the long side.” Gold is also regaining confidence as there have been considerable selloffs in both Japanese stocks and the global equity markets. Investor sentiment quickly shifted toward the safe haven asset once economic concerns began to brew in Europe and Japan. “I think the feeling on the market is at the moment — considering how there’s been almost like a one-way street for equities over the last few months — will this just be a couple of days blip and then the buyers will return?” Ole Hansen, head of commodities strategy at Saxo Bank, said in a phone interview from Copenhagen. Gold’s negative correlation to the stock market was on display this week, as the yellow metal is heading for its best week in the past month. Mitsubishi analyst Jonathan Butler said, “The conditions are favourable for a continued role for Gold. Those loose economic policies aren’t coming to an end just yet, though there are some voices in favour of a more hawkish stance in the United States.”

ALL EYES ON THE FED

This week loomed very large in the United States, as Chicago’s Federal Reserve President Charles Evans spoke Monday in front of Congress on the outlook of the economy. “This series of events certainly has the potential to overshadow what is likely to be a relatively quiet start to the week for fundamental macroeconomic indicators out of the US, but the big question is precisely when we’ll see the market react to the imminent tighter monetary conditions,” GFT Markets market strategist Fawad Razaqzada said. Many believed the Fed would announce the slowdown of their easing program which could drastically change the global economic landscape. However, after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke on Wednesday it was clear that the easing will continue for now. When Bernanke speaks, the Gold market listens. Wednesday was no different when he said it was too early to slow down the central bank’s easing program based on current economic conditions. “The correlation of the dollar with Gold has been quite strong lately, and today’s weakness in the U.S. currency after Fed officials said it may be too early to be pulling back of QE (quantitative easing) certainly helps the metal,” Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said. While Gold enjoyed a positive week, not all financial markets can say the same. Ongoing concern surrounding the future of quantitative easing (QE) and weakness in Asian markets weigh on equities markets as stocks continue to trade down heading into the weekend. “Positive durable goods sales were unable to bring in any lasting support and instead may be having the opposite effect, providing more evidence for the Fed to begin tapering QE,” CMC Markets’ senior market analyst Colin Cieszynski said. This week’s markets slump could disrupt a four week winning streak for both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

APMEX’s Account Managers now have extended hours Mondays through Thursdays and are here to serve you until 8 p.m. (EDT)! Or call us Fridays until 6 p.m. (EDT)! If you have any questions about investing in Precious Metals or simply would prefer to place your order by telephone, we are here to help.

GOLD ENDS WEEK LOWER As the week comes to a close, Gold is sitting at a two and a half week low. On Tuesday, the first of numerous reports that affected the price of Gold came out of Europe regarding formation of a banking union. This has caused a belief that there will be less financial risk in the region, which has in turn caused a drop in safe haven assets such as Gold. “Any indication that Europe is working towards a resolution is bad for Gold,” Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist at Archer Financial Services Inc. in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “Money is flowing into riskier assets like equities.” The next move in the Gold price came on Wednesday when the U.S. weekly jobless claims fell to a five year low. Improved labor conditions tend to put pressure on the yellow metal due to the Federal Reserve’s preservation of a low federal funds rate as compared to the unemployment rate. If the Fed raises interest rates, the market perceives that as a sign they may also cut back on current monetary policy, which makes Gold shine as a safe haven asset. “Jobless claims were better than expected, indicative of a recovering U.S. economy, and the dollar is a little bit stronger … In that kind of environment you would expect Gold to come under pressure,” Deutsche Bank analyst Daniel Brebner said. The Gold price declined as the U.S. dollar strengthened against the yen and investors focused on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech Friday morning. Expectations that Bernanke might reveal a plan to slow the Fed’s bond purchase program weighed on the metal as similar rumors have negatively impacted Gold in the past. Friday’s price dip drove Gold down 2.5 percent to its lowest level in two weeks.

GOLD STILL SHINES FOR MANY Even in the face of lower Gold prices, many investors and market analysts believe the future for the yellow metal is strong. Investors have noticed the movement metals have experienced and continue to feel confident purchasing hard assets. New concerns come from the Federal Reserve’s proposal to modify quantitative easing (QE) based on recent positive economic data. “With the Fed’s recent commitment to stand ready to alter the pace of QE, based on employment and inflation expectations, bullion prices are likely to remain highly sensitive to changes in U.S. employment data,” HSBC said in a note. Andy Xie of MarketWatch believes that with growth stuck at about a two percent range and inflation seemingly rising in the future, the U.S. is in a period of stagflation. Xie wrote, “Despite its recent setback, Gold remains a big beneficiary of the current macro environment. It could make a new high in the current year and rise much higher in 2014. The Gold bull market will end when an inflation crisis pushes central bankers around the world to tighten aggressively… For the masses, Gold is the best inflation hedge.” Last month, Gold imports into China more than doubled, setting an all-time high. One of the most impressive things to note is that all of this happened before Gold’s price dropped in April. “This is quite out of expectation as all these imports were done before the market slump in April. Judging from the explosive growth of trading volume on the Shanghai Gold Exchange in the second half of April, and anecdotes that many jewelry shops are sold out throughout the country, imports might be even more substantial in April,” said Qu Mingyu, a trader at Bank of China, one of the country’s three largest bullion banks.

After last week’s Gold and Silver prices hit a two year low, physical buyers jumped on the opportunity to buy at the reduced market pricing. That buying of Gold and Silver gave prices a boost this week. On Monday, the Gold price recovered some of the ground lost after last week’s major price drop as expectations for the metal remain positive among many investors. “As the price moved over $1,400 per ounce, physical traders, on the expectation that Gold could possibly correct back higher, rushed into Gold.” MKS Group Senior Vice President Frederic Panizzutti said. The demand for physical Gold along with continued support by central banks has helped buoy prices over the last few sessions. One of the driving factors of the increase in the Gold price this week was the U.S. durable goods report, which was lower than expected. “Overall, the weak tone of this report underscored the emerging narrative of a considerable slowing in economic growth momentum in March,” TD Securities senior economist Millan Mulraine said. Many economists blame the slowdown on the budget cuts that took place earlier in the year and believe businesses are being more hesitant due to the uncertainty in the economy. Gold climbed to its highest price in ten days during overnight trading on Thursday, hitting $1,447.66 an ounce. The increase is credited to a weaker dollar, firmer prices in other commodities and a ninth straight session of physical Precious Metals demand. Investors have also noted that Russian and Turkish central bank purchases, as reported by the International Monetary Fund, increased in March. Daily outflows from exchange traded funds (ETF) are keeping the largest Gold backed ETF, New York’s SPDR Gold Trust, at its lowest level since late 2009.

IS GOLD UNDERVALUED DUE TO ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY?

Gold’s price movement over the past few weeks has the market questioning whether the bull run is over. Compared to fiat money, the yellow metal continues to be undervalued, according to Hinde Capital CEO Ben Davies, who believes Gold has held its ground throughout history and is currently being pressured by paper money. Author Detlev Schlichter said, “After 40 years of relentless paper money expansion and in particular 25 years of Fed-led global bubble finance, the dislocations in the global financial system are so massive that nobody in power dares to turn off the monetary spigot and allow market forces to do their work, that is to price credit and to price risk according to the available pool of real savings and the potential for real income generation rather than according to the wishes of our master monetary planners.” The continued easing in the major global markets is not the only sign of uncertainty that investors are taking note of. Volatility in equities markets remains as many experts have cut corporate earnings projections for the second quarter. Economists who initially forecasted a 6.2 percent increase at the beginning of April have scaled back their predictions to 5.5 percent expansion in the coming quarter. “The earnings season has been enough to hold stocks where they are in light of some less than hoped for macro data,” Federated Investors Inc. fund manager Lawrence Creatura said. “Time will tell if it will remain enough as we move through what’s a seasonally more difficult time.” In Europe the debt crisis is spreading to the eurozone’s stronger economies now, according to German industrial giant Daimler, maker of Mercedes-Benz autos and trucks. Daimler said it is feeling the effects of the crisis in Germany, signaling the spread of the problem from the smaller countries to the eurozone’s economic powerhouse. High Frequency Economics chief economist Carl B. Weinberg said, “The EU has made Europe a much more cohesive economy, which is good when things are going up, but when things are going down the multiplier is very strong. An outgoing tide lowers all ships.”

At 5:00 pm (EDT), the APMEX precious metals spot prices were:

Gold, $1463.70, Down $0.80.

Silver, $24.04, Down $0.21.

Platinum, $1479.30, Up $13.70.

Palladium, $683.00, Down $0.40.

APMEX’s Account Managers now have extended hours Mondays through Thursdays and are here to serve you until 7 p.m. (CDT)! Or call us Fridays until 5 p.m. (CDT)! If you have any questions about investing in precious metals or simply would prefer to place your order by telephone, we are here to help.

It’s that time. You’ve been watching the prices rise and fall—up and down like a see saw. Finally you’re ready to invest in Silver, Gold, or both if you’re trying to build a diverse portfolio. Before confirming your purchase, here are a few things you might want to know before ordering with APMEX—the largest online provider of precious metals!

The shipping address and your credit card’s billing address must match! We want to ensure that your order is shipped directly to you and you only.

Your check will be held for 5-10 business days before your order ships. Don’t worry; we’ll also hold the price for you as well!

Credit card orders will process within 1-3 business days and can’t be expedited. Please adjust your gift purchases accordingly.

No last minute changes! Get all the items you want now, because once placed, your order cannot be modified or combined with any additional orders.

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